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Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass

Questions About Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass

by Theodore Dalrymple

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in the introduction" such flattery is thus the death of aspiration, and lack of aspiration is of couse, one of the causes of passivity,". What is the "flattery" to which he refers? Why is this flattery, according to the author the "death of aspiration"?
Andrew Troup Dalrymple is referring to the mindless praise of hip hop, when he writes "such serious attention and praise deludes its listeners into supposing that …moreDalrymple is referring to the mindless praise of hip hop, when he writes "such serious attention and praise deludes its listeners into supposing that nothing finer exists than what they already know and like."

My take: business interests, of which this is an example, can increase their sales, and their profits, by convincing us that we are ALL wonderful and exceptional in our powers of discernment, and that whatever we currently think would bring us pleasure must therefore as good as it gets.

(If we think that "nothing finer exists...", there is no point striving to work out what that might look like)

This gratification of immediate wants keeps us in an endless loop, because the pleasure is fleeting. This is good for consumption, because this leads to repeating (and usually increasing) the dose.

Which is something we seem to be wired to do, when we concentrate unduly on easy pleasure-seeking, whether through food treats, retail therapy, sex, alcohol/drugs, or whatever we happen to prefer.

(If interested, Google recent discoveries about dopamine vs seratonin, pleasure vs happiness)

Whereas if we lift our gaze beyond the immediate prospect of short term pleasure, we might aspire to do something more durable in the direction of actual happiness.

A working litmus test for the diff between this and pleasure:

Happiness is something you get as a result of doing something significant with your time and effort;
it provides a reliable and lasting lift to your spirits, and you cannot become satiated or bored by too much of it.

Unlike pleasure, it cannot be outsourced, delegated or purchased.

-- it might be something as simple as connecting with a person who could use your help, or building something which will bring "pleasure" to those who see it or use it, or researching and then making a submission about an important issue --

If we do not aspire in any way to make the world a better place (not just for us, because we are essentially a social animal) then our purpose in society dwindles to the 'duty' to consume until we die.

Much more succinctly, the author sums this up (unless I completely have misunderstood his message!) with:

"Such flattery is the death of aspiration, and lack of aspiration is, of course, one of the causes of passivity."(less)
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